The latest tablet to come out of the doors from Microsoft is its Surface Pro 3 tablet, which was unveiled at a special event in New York today. The company hopes that its latest offering will seduce laptop owners into switching over to the lighter side of the tablet world.

What’s Inside?

The first thing that is apparent is the new model’s size—its display is 12-inches, which is larger than the 10.6-inch size of the previous Surface Pro. The tablet is super-thin and measures 0.35-inches thick, sans the keyboard cover. This puts the Surface Pro 3 in similar company as the iPad Air, which measures 0.29-inches thick.

As far as the specs for the 12-inch display, it will sport a super-crisp HD display of 2160 x 1440 pixels with the highest contrast ratio in its class. It can be operated via a stylus on its surface, and graphics programs such as Photoshop will be fully functional on it.

For the tablet be more ergonomic, it has a variable position kickstand that can prop up the Surface Pro 3 conveniently for either work or play.

The Surface Pro 3 is actually lighter than air—the iPad Air that is, but this is without the Surface’s keyboard cover, so this may be cheating a bit.

Other goodies added to the new tablet are more speed and performance via the Core i7 Intel processor inside. This CPU throws off a lot of heat but this has been taken care of by a whisper quiet fan that Microsoft says you’ll never notice.

What’s It For?

Microsoft hopes that its new behemoth will convince laptop users to consider switching over to the Surface Pro 3.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, gave his take on Surface tablets:

Can we design and build a device that enables any individual to be able to read and to be able to create and write? [And] allows you to watch a movie and make a movie; enjoy art and create art? That was the motivation for the Surface line."

But the bigger question remains, why would dedicated laptop users switch over to a tablet that essentially acts as a laptop when the keyboard is attached?

If Microsoft can answer this question for consumers, it may have answered the question on how to sell more Surface Pro 3 tablets.

The entry-level price for the Surface Pro 3 starts at $799. Pre-orders will be available on May 21, with the units on store shelves by June 20.

Share this article

Frank Ling, a jack of all trades, has worked as a professional photographer, writer, video editor, and video game QA trainer. He built several computers from scratch and is a hopelessly addicted gadget and toy freak. He has been published on national websites and is working on finding an agent for his novel. His house is adorned with little animals and creatures. Basically, Frank has never grown up.